Can climate shape development? A view through time

Abstract

Despite the devastating impact that flooding, drought and fire associated with the 1982-83 and 1997-98 El Niño events had on both the natural environment and human society, there is little information on the impact similar events may have had in the deeper past. Historians and archaeologists have documented catastrophic events in human history from the collapse of great civilisations to the rise of devastating pandemics, that suggest human history has been shaped by extreme events and non-linear processes, many of which we know little about. Show more